In the Pensieve - Memories that (w)rock
by MirandaOfMilan
Summary: Harry finds out that Dumbledore had left him some memories to watch after his dead. Very personal memories, to give him hope when he feels left alone by everybody...


Hello. This story takes part after the last chapter of Harry Potter and the half-blood-prince. The wizard rock song used in this chapter is called 'The prince's tale' and it belongs to Butterbeer Experience or whoever has written it. I only made small changes in some of the lyrics. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling, as always.

You can listen to the original version on youtube, but apparently I can not post the link here, sorry

If you have any wishes for other memories Harry could watch, or if you want me to use a special wrock song for a later chapter, please leave a comment or a privat message. Of course, you can also do this without such wishes.

Enjoy reading my first songfiction now.

* * *

 **Albus' tale**

Harry was still sitting on the grass and staring towards the Dark Lake when he heard footsteps getting nearer. Ron and Hermione were still next to him, but he was too melancholic to turn around.

„Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonnagall asked in a broken voice, and Harry knew for sure that she had cried, too. „Would you mind meeting me in the headmaster's office when you – you know – later today? His name is the password."

Harry just nodded and she left. Why would she want to talk to him again? He did not know what was left to say. But after an hour that felt like eternity, he stood up and reentered the castle.

The new headmistress already awaited him. On her desk, Harry could see some vials filled with a silvery-white substance that he immediately recognized as memories, and Dumbledore's pensieve. Confused, he looked at Professor McGonnagall.

„Professor Dumbledore showed me those some days before his death. The viols I mean, not the content of them. He told me he wanted you to see them, but that he had not yet found the time to watch them with you. I guess that has not changed yet? Allright. I have no idea what they are about, but they seemed to be extraordinary important. The Governors of School want to discuss the school's future with me anyway, so I guess I better leave you alone and meet them now."

After she was gone, Harry continued to stare at the vials for some time, then his couriosity won and he picked up what was marked to contain the first memory. What else had Dumbledore wanted him to know about the Horcruxes? He took a deep breath and lowered his head into the pensieve.

* * *

He stood in the most beautiful garden he had ever seen, althogh it was a very small one. But the red roses and golden daffodils shined bright in the sunlight and morning dew glittered all over the gras. Harry turned around, and saw three little children running out of the house laughing. Their parents stayed in the door sill but watched over them. The girl, who seemed to be the youngest of them stopped to sit down on a swing that had been bound to a branch of the apple tree in one corner of the garden. Her blond hair flew with the wind and made her brothers stand still to look at her.

Harry wondered what would happen there, connected to Voldemort in any way. But because he knew nothing about where he was, he stayed and looked as the older boy moved towards the swing. He had the same auburn hair as his brother. Harry coughed as some calm music began to play, obviously only in the head of the owner of the memory. The walking boy began to talk, more to himself then to his family. But Harry heard his voice twice, once whispered and once sung loudly and clearly. That made Harry figure out it was this boy's memory that he was watching, so he concentrated on what he heared.

 _I see you there_

 _Wind blows your hair_

 _As you swing._

 _And I'm eight years old_

 _And you're beautiful_

 _As you swing._

He had reached the swing and now directly addressed his sister, mocking her.

„Hey, Ariana! Dad has told Mum that he has seen you perform magic yesterday. Is that true?"

„Yes, I did. And if you don't believe me, I can proof it. Abe does not know it yet, too."

Ariana, as the boy had called her, jumped and floated in the air. Both laughed, and so did their parents. Only the other boy, Abe, seemed to be surprised. This was definetly a family of witches and wizards, Harry decided. When Ariana spoke again, it sounded to Harry as if she would continue her brother's song.

 _You ask if I'm a witch,_

 _So I fly off the swing ._

 _Our brother's scared,_

 _But I'm prepared_

 _To try to make magic with you_.

Ariana's feet touched the ground again on the other side of the garden. The boy, who had followed her, now linked their hands and began spinning around with her. Abe joined them and the three of them sang together.

 _My magical childhood friend._

 _Somebody that i can depend on to help me,_

 _Depend on to hold me._

 _And I think I would die without you!_

Harry sighed. That whole memory was so wonderful. He still did neither know who it was about or why he should see it, but he didn't care anymore. But then... when Dumbledore had talked to Professor McGonnagall, he must have known already that he would travel to the cave with him. Maybe he had suspected he would die, and had wanted to help Harry overcoming his sadness. If that had been his intention, it had worked perfectly. But somehow the name Abe felt quite familliar, and so did the appereance of his brother. Just as Harry wanted to concentrate harder on him, the scene changed.

* * *

He was in the Great Hall for sure. Harry knew none of the teachers, and he could't see any of the children from the garden either. The students were cheering as a girl with black hair was sorted into Ravenclaw. Then, the man who held the Sorting Hat in his hand called for „Dodge, Elphias". Harry walked towards her because he had heard that name only some hours ago, on the funeral. It was not the boy from the first part of the memory. He looked ill, with his pale and slightly green coloured skin. But he was sorted into Gryffindor quickly, and then somebody else was called.

„Dumbledore, Albus"

Harry's heart skipped a beat. Of course. How had it been possible that he had not realised it earlier? He knew nobody else with crystal blue eyes like his former headmaster, and he had even mentioned a brother named Aberforth once. As the two boys met halfway between the crowd of waiting students and the Sorting Hat, Harry heard Elphias whisper, or in Dumbledores head, sing.

 _I see you there,_

 _Blue eyes, auburn hair,_

 _At Hogwarts._

 _I'm twelve years old and you're beautiful_

 _At Hogwarts._

The other students looked at Elphias sceptically and moved their chairs away from him. But Albus walked straight towards him and hugged him after being sorted into the same house. They must have met earlier. Albus looked at his other housemates with a reproachful glance and began talking to his friend.

 _Nobody likes you,_

 _But I will stay true_

 _At Hogwarts._

The feast was over soon and the Gryffindors were guided to their common room by prefects. Nobody wanted to share a dormitory with Elphias, so he and Albus got a room with four beds all for themselves. Elphias tried to motivate Dumbledore to not 'destroy his future' by befriending him, but in response, Albus sang on.

 _All taunt and jeer,_

 _But I keep you near_

 _And try to make magic with you._

The kindness of Dumbledore's words made Harry smile. That was just how he knew the man from his own experiences.

* * *

In the next scene, Harry, Elphias and Dumbledore sat on a bed with purple pillows. The Gryffindor lion had been painted on one of the wallpapers, and through the window, Harry could see a garden, but much smaller than he one Dumbledore and his siblings had played in earlier. So the family had moved before Dumbledore's time in Hogwarts, Harry noticed. Or during it, because the boys looked like they were at least fifteen years old. Several maps were spread between them. Germany, Egypt, Turkey, were they planning a journey all though the world, Harry wondered.

„And I would like to see some parts of Africa, too. If it is not a problem for you, of course." Elphias just said.

„Wherever you want to go, I'll come with you. Because you are my best friend."

Elphias smiled, and they sang he next words together as if they had said them many times before.

 _My magical childhood friend._

 _Somebody that I can depend on to help me,_

 _Depend on to hold me._

 _And I think I would die without you!_

„Albus, Elphias, would you come down please?"

Mrs Dumbledore awaited the boys in the living room decorated with candles, socks and fir branches. Four chairs stood around the table, and Aberforth already sat on one of them. Ariana and her father where nowhere to be seen, and none of the boys asked about them. What had happened to them?

* * *

Now, Harry stood on a cemetry. He could see a few people standing around an open grave. Harry wanted to have a closer look on the tombstone, made of granite.

Kendra Dumbledore 4th April 1856 - 13th June 1899

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Mt 6, 21

Ariana Dumbledore 20th November 1885 - 20th August 1899

Ooh. That was no was Harry had expected. But, the dates, they said that Ariana definetly had been alive when Elphias had visited the Dumbledore's earlier. Why had she not eaten with the others, then? While Harry was thinking about that, Aberforth pulled his brother away from the grave and pushed him against a wall of the church.

„Stop pretending to be sad because of her death. It makes me sick!"

 _I'm sorry._

 _(Save your breath!)_

 _I didn't mean to use a Killing curse._

A Killing Curse? His former headmaster should have used an Unvorgivable, and even the worst of them? This was unbelievable to Harry. Obviously not for Aberforth, who nearly shouted his next words.

 _You didn't mean to use that Killing Curse._

 _It just sorta slipped out_

 _Didn't it? Well Albus, now get out-_

 _(You don't mean that!)_

 _Don't I?_

 _I've made excuses for you for years._

 _But now I know you've made your choice_

 _And you have chosen evil!_

„You just can't wait to rejoin Gellert, can you?"

And with these words, Aberforth hit his brother in ther face. Albus fell down and kneeled on the ground. Blood seemed to cover the lower half of his face.

„I hate you, Albus Dumbledore! You killed our sister, and she had always admired you so much. I don't ever want to see you again, you murderer!"

Aberforth left the cemetry with a badly wounded Albus and a very shocked Harry behind. A middle-aged woman, another guest at the funeral for Ariana, walked towards them and asked Albus if he was allright. At least that was what Harry thought, because the scene changed once more in the middle of her sentence.

* * *

Albus walked around in a living room in one of the towers of Hogwarts. It was the coldest room Harry had ever seen, his cupbord under the stairs seemed nearly more comfortable. It still had been very uncomfortable, but much smaller. An armchair, a desk and some lockers were all the furniture, and only one picture hang at the wall. It showed Ariana swinging in her garden. Albus put on some warm shoes and a long, black cloak.

 _I'm all alone,_

 _Can not atone_

 _For all I've done._

 _So I have to confess_

 _I trusted him, yes._

 _Cannot be undone._

Harry walked out of the castle and through the snowy streets of Hogsmead with Albus. At first, he expected Dumbledore would meet someone in the Three Broomsticks, but he seemed to walk past every shop and restaurant of the town. Still walking, he took out a locket with a small portrait of his sister and sang to her.

 _I'm thirty years old and you're beautiful_

 _Though you're not here._

 _Now I'm afraid_

 _I could be late_

 _To safe our world from its fate._

„I will fight Gellert, I promise. I will make sure he pays for destroying our family. But I have to talk to Abe first, and truely apologise for our arguments."

Now Harry realised one more restaurant laid before them. It was the Hog's Head. A strange place to meet with Aberforth, Harry thought. But then he saw Dumbledore's brother looking out of a window under the roof. There were no hotel rooms there, so he was the Hog's Head's owner. Aberforth looked at a picture in his hands without noticing his visitor, and Harry was quite sure who he looked at. And he had guessed right.

 _He couldn't keep you safe though, Dumbledore_

 _He couldn't keep you safe so you were killed!_

 _But he had vowed to keep you, sister, save_

 _As he became the eldest Dumbledore._

 _I hope he lies awake now every night,_

 _Wishing he had died then in your stead!_

Albus turned around and left. Harry had to think of the anger he had felt when he learned that Sirius Black had been a friend of his parents, and he still thought he would have betrayed them. Albus looked as if he would feel the same, but he soundet even more desperate.

 _And then today I finally face the truth._

 _Everything I'd done for you,_

 _My brother, had been done for naught._

Everything went black suddenly, and Harry feared this would have been the end of the memory, but somethin else followed.

* * *

Harry found himself in the graveyard once again. Albus stood in front of his mother's and sister's tombstone. Some more yearst must have past, according to the appereance of Albus. He laid down a flower bouquet on the grave; roses and daffodils.

„Oh Ariana. You can' t imagine how much i miss you. Look, I brought you your favorite flowers, like they used to grow in our garden. I wish I could return to that time when Mum was alive, when Dad was free and you were healthy. And when Aberforth allowed to talk to him."

 _So long I cried_

 _Ever since you died._

 _Always._

 _And I'm fifty-eight years old,_

 _And you're beautiful._

 _Always, always yours._

Harry noticed a movement behind his back. He turned around and saw Aberforth stepping out of the shadows. He took one more step foward and touched his brother's shoulder.

 _My magical childhood friend ._

 _Somebody that I can depend on to help me,_

 _Depend on to hold me._

 _And I know I will die without you!_

Like Harry had just done, Albus looked at him surprised, but then he smiled gratefully.

 _I know you did your best, Albus._

 _(And I will love her.)_

 _And I forgive you, Albus_.

 _(Always!)_

Together, the brothers left the graveyard and their argument behind and walked towards the rising sun holding hands.

* * *

Professor McGonnagall stood next to the pensive and was shocked when she saw her student crying, but Harry told her it were tears of joy.

„It is decided that Hogwarts will open again for the next term, Mr Potter. But I suggest you return to your dormitory now, the train leaves early tomorrow morning. Yes, I know you have not seen all the memories yet, but you can not stay any longer."

„And, what will happen to the pensieve?"

„It had belonged to Professor Dumbledore, and I don't know who he left it too. Probably to the School, and you can come here any time you want to continue studying these memories."

„But, Professor, I won't come back. I have got something more important to do, so we can win the war. Dumbledore wanted me to do it."

„In that case, I think a dublicating charm would be appropriate."

She touched the pensieve with her wand, and another one appeared next to it, looking exactly the same.

„I have to warn you that it won't last forever. Depending on how often you use it, it will resolve in between thee and ten months. And it is not exactly legal to give it to you, so please don't tell anybody you do not trust completely."

Harry nodded, thanked her, and left the office. He felt ready for his holidays now.


End file.
